{Blog Tour} THE ALMOST GIRL by AMALIE HOWARD ---with review, interviews, and giveaway!

This is going to be a huge post...sharing not only a review, but also a giveaway, interview with author, interview with main character, and spotlightly Amalie's other books and upcoming releases! READ ON! |||

{Blog Tour} SUSY ASLYUM by Michael Pierce, Lorne Family Vault #2 with reviews and giveaway

About Provex City (Lorne Family Vault #1)

Fifteen-year-old Oliver Grain begins his school year fighting off bullies, learning about the boy who committed suicide in his room, and trying to understand why his history teacher, Mr. Gordon, has taken such a personal interest in him.

Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe you can make bullies simply disappear? Do you believe you can walk through walls?

Mr. Gordon tells Oliver: "When you truly believe anything is possible, you will be able to open doors where there were only walls." And one of those doors leads Oliver to Provex City, which puts him in far greater danger than he can possibly fathom.

Disclaimer: I received my copy of PROVEX CITY to review for a book tour. I was in no way compensated for my opinion, which follows.

It was really refreshing for me to read a book with a male protagonist. It isn't that it hasn't happened, but it hasn't happened in the last stream of books (wonderful though they were) I've read! And often, male protagonists don't sound male, if that makes any sense.

The beginning of this book read a little younger than I was expecting, but quickly turned more towards the upper end of YA. There is some serious background that we're just not seeing in the beginning between Oliver and his older brother, Jeremy. I got the feeling that while Jeremy was looking out for his brother, there was also some hidden animosity. And it didn't really make sense as Oliver is the one living in Jeremy's shadow.

I truly enjoyed the "what if" scenario presented to Oliver by Mr Gordon and the "magic". It makes you wonder if that is true for everyone or just for Oliver since he, though he doesn't remember it thanks to a pill, is from someplace else. Provex City is on a different plane of consciousness, a higher one if you will, and that is where Oliver and his brother and mother are from, although none remember it for their own safety. As Oliver learns more and more from Mr Gordon, he is also dealing with high school and its complications: bullies, school work, jealous boyfriends, a opposite sex best friend, and a new girlfriend.

I liked this realm of possibilities Michael Pierce has created for us. Energy healing, various planes of consciousness, layered on top of one another, etc. Parallel dimensions are always fascinating...but what about TJ? He committed suicide, yet he's sentient wherever he is and able to communicate with Oliver! Oh and the ending? Yes, you should get book 2 while you're buying book one. Just a suggestion! ;) 

About SUSY Asylum (Lorne Family Vault #2)

In SUSY Asylum, there is no release. There is no escape. No hope.

Oliver and Desiree are introduced to the writings of a mysterious blogger, Commodore Chaos, when they return to Provex City to indulge in what the sublime city has to offer. The blogger claims the Lornes are collecting people venturing between the higher planes of awareness and locking them away in a mythical asylum. But are these legitimate concerns for inter-plane travelers or just the ramblings of an anonymous conspiracy blogger?

Oliver looks to Provex City as his only connection to his father while Desiree looks to the city as an escape from the torment of losing her best friend—again. Provex City is a wonder of beautiful treasures, entrancing them to continue returning. But behind the beauty, wolves have continued hunting Oliver, a boy who is still unaware of his importance in the rebellion.

Oliver’s belief is waning. Desiree will not always be by his side. Mr. Gordon will not always come to his aid. Oliver finds himself alone, forced to confront his biggest fears, fight his inner demons, and face the very cold reality that no one is coming to save him.

Welcome to SUSY Asylum.

 I absolutely 100% loathe Desiree. I do. I don't think she has any redeeming qualities. But this story...OH THIS STORY. I'm absolutely intrigued and want to just gobble up more! Mr Gordon (Daniel) and his teachings are fascinating to me and makes me wish that every time I gaze off into space, I, too, could see into another plane of consciousness. I thought it took a bit to get to SUSY Asylum, but every single step was necessary and SUSY does not disappoint for sheer viciousness. I felt SO bad for Anna and tears came to my eyes...I'm hoping that despite coming from our plane, there is an alternative for her. There sure seemed to be for Eli, that volatile jerkwad!

If you haven't guessed yet, I was thoroughly engrossed in this second installment in the Lorne Family vaults. Some of the characters I found so incredibly annoying (coughDesireecough) and just pffft on her; others endeared themselves to me despite me wanting to smack them (uhhh Oliver!) but all in all this is a story that you WANT to finish.

Warning: cliffhanger ending. /sigh. I should be used to these by now, but every single time when it's a story I've totally engrossed in, I want to throw myself onto my bed and just throw a hissy fit. Yeah...that's how I came up with a tiffy fit. I'm throwing a tiffy fit. ;) More, please, Mr. Pierce! 

About Michael Pierce:
I believe in a future where I will be able to write full-time, a picture I already hold vividly in my mind. It all starts with my debut young adult novel, Provex City. I love Harry Potter & The Marbury Lens, Tool & Elliott Smith, Dexter & Donnie Darko, bold coffee & amber ale. I also love dabbling with writing music and recording, with no illusions of ever making it a career. I am ecstatically married and the lucky father to a beautiful baby girl.

Find the author: Website/Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads



Visit the other spots on this tour! http://www.candacesbookblog.com/2013/06/new-tour-sign-up-susy-asylum-by-michael.html

Giveaway:
$50 Gift Card (INT)
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Blog Tour!: IXEOS Rebellion by Jennings Wright

Tour Schedule

Ixeos Rebellion

With rebel leader Darian free at last, the humans and outsiders on Ixeos must find a way to join forces and defeat the Firsts. The problem? All slaves are tracked with GPS, the Firsts are the only ones with power, and roving gangs hate the rebels just as much as they hate the aliens. As Darian and the outsiders from Earth travel the globe through the mysterious tunnels in Paris, they learn that the Firsts are preparing to launch another wave of biological warfare. With a transporter that will allow the aliens to target any city, anywhere on the planet, the rebels know they must stop them at all costs.

As things get more dangerous on Ixeos, the outsiders find that they're pushed to their limit. Will they fight for freedom, no matter the price?

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Ixeos

The McClellands are enjoying a lazy summer vacation at the beach when they are lured from our world into Ixeos, an alternate Earth. Finding themselves lost in a maze of tunnels under Paris and surrounded by strangers, they discover that they have been brought to Ixeos for one purpose: to take the planet back from humanoid aliens who have claimed it. With the aid of the tunnels and a mysterious man named Landon, the teens travel the world seeking the key that will allow them to free Darian, the long-imprisoned rebel leader. But the aliens aren't the only problem on Ixeos -- the McClellands have to deal with brutal gangs, desperate junkies, and a world without power, where all the technology is owned by the aliens, and where most of the population has been killed or enslaved. The worst part? There's no way home.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Author Jennings Wright

Born and raised in Florida, Jennings spent her early years reading anything she could get her hands on, when she wasn't spending time in and on the water. She won a prize in the 6th grade for her science fiction stories.

Jennings attended the University of Tampa, graduating with a B.A. in Political Science, and almost enough credits for B.A.s in both English and History. She attended graduate school at the University of West Florida, studying Psychology. She spent time over the years doing various kinds of business writing, editing, and teaching writing, but mostly having and raising her family, homeschooling her children, owning and running a business with her husband, and starting a non-profit.

Thanks to a crazy idea called NaNoWriMo Jennings got back into creative writing in 2011 and hasn't stopped since. She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband, also a business owner and writer, and two children, and travels extensively with her family, and her non-profit in Uganda.

Facebook * Twitter * Website * Blog * Amazon * Goodreads

A_TiffyFit's Review
If I were to try and give you adjectives about this book, I would say it is exciting, suspenseful, human, intense, all of those things wrapped up together in a technological, dystopian thriller. There's relief and puzzlement, disbelief and heartache. Enslaved humans, freed ones living in sewers, a few choice individuals with grand technical knowledge, and those with heart. It is an odd world, parallel universe to our own earth, but the occupants are fighting off the aliens who have laid claim to the planet, the Firsts. More and more humans are slipping through, adding to the rebel forces.

Darian, the rebel leader, is free and it's now time to put up a fight and take back the planet from the Firsts. I really enjoyed the characters and the pace of the plot as things are put into motion. Glimpses of other lands were solid as we move from portal to portal, gathering forces and resources. Friends are injured and lost, newly freed human slaves are joining the rebellion, old friends are found and join forces. There are interesting techno bits such as the transporters, the collars, the GPS, the old satellites, and the unknown weapons. And just as you think you were betrayed, something happens at the end. Intense! I look forward to seeing how this trilogy wraps up!


Blog Tour Giveaway
$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 7/31/13

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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BLOG TOUR! Identified: The Maya Price Story ----Review & Giveaways

Identified: The Maya Price Story by Faith A. Rice-Mills
Series: The Maya Price Story series, #1
Publication date: December 3rd 2012
Genre: YA Paranormal/Fantasy

Synopsis:
     Maya Price is a typical eighteen-year-old girl without much going on in her life. Her biggest problems include getting ready to leave her hometown for college, figuring out how to avoid her ever-so-strange stepmother, and trying to muddle through her feelings for her best friend, Pete. Yet, on one of her last nights in her hometown, she and Pete are in a car accident. A stranger pulls Maya from the accident, leaving Pete behind, and takes her out of this world and into another dimension.

     Maya soon discovers that she has been taken to a dimension called Leets by a group of people that call themselves shifters. Shifters are of mixed human and onyx blood and have various abilities.  These shifters are able to travel between dimensions and control the four elements (fire, earth, wind, water) and the five senses (sight, sound, smell, touch and taste). Their leader, Victoria, informs Maya that she, too, is a shifter and that she must choose to join them or risk being sought out by their greatest enemy, a shifter named Leonas.

    Maya joins Victoria and her ragtag group of rebel shifters in Leets, where she is teamed up with a group of seven other shifters. Her new "teammates" include a street-smart girl named Luz, who is especially adept at controlling fire, her twin sister Espy, and a nervous boy named Lamar, who can manipulate sound better than any other shifter. Together, Maya’s team trains for the battle that will soon be  inevitable.

     However, Maya soon learns that her purpose is not to just move the earth or send water flying into the air. There are rumors of a hidden prophecy and that the prophecy mentions Maya by name. Supposedly, the prophecy says that Maya will one day have to choose a side and will be essential in bringing her chosen ally to power...

A_TiffyFit's Review:
I have been fascinated with the idea of parallel dimensions for a long time. Sometimes it’s like stepping through a curtain and into another world; sometimes it’s jumping through a time portal; sometimes it’s catching glimpses of the others through the shadows. “Identified” takes it a step further with a different race of people including the hybrids of unions between this race of beings and humans. These hybrids are known as shifters and because of their unique heritage of half-onyx and half-human, they can move between the two worlds. Maya Price is a shifter, although she doesn’t know it until the night of the high school graduation party when the hunters come to find her. 

The story is rich, the characters interesting, the plot fascinating. The flow of action is broken by excerpts from interrogations, journal entries, deep thoughts from the future from different characters. This gives added depth to the story, helping you to understand a little bit more about each character, a little bit more about the story line. While the pace isn’t as fast as other books, it certainly is a compelling read. I could do with more explanations on the rebellion and Leonas and even Maya’s birth mother’s story, as we only get a glimpse of that. 

I read this book on my kindle (ecopy for book tour/review purposes) and my heart started to drop when I realized I was at 90% and there wasn’t a conclusion yet. Not even the makings of one! And then at 94% I wanted to cry as the book ended. I read on to see what I could expect in the next book and now I patiently wait to hear more of when it is due and when it is coming out. 

About the Author

Faith A. Rice-Mills is the author of Identified: The Maya Price Story and a handful of short stories.  She moonlights as a Spanish teacher,  but has wanted to be a writer since she wrote the poem “The Jackowhipp’s Wail” as an eight-year-old.  Her writer’s spirit resides somewhere between Narnia and Mount Doom, but her physical body lives in Texas with her family.  Besides writing, she loves reading (and will take recommendations!), yoga, coloring with her daughter, and watching Parks and Recreation with her husband.  She dislikes snakes, the word “literally,” and teaching double object pronouns in Spanish.  She is currently working on Burdened, the second book in The Maya Price Story series and is writing whatever short story she has to get out of her brain.

LINKS:

Website: http://writesofwoman.wordpress.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6621559.Faith_A_Rice_Mills

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmills514

Giveaways!
There is a blog specific giveaway and a grand prize giveaway. From here, you can win an e-copy of IDENTIFIED! Tour-wide is a signed paperback!!!

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Review: A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I did not finish this book. There is a lot that seemed intriguing to me, but a lot that just wasn't getting it done. After getting to about 55%, I didn't want to read any more and my interest definitely waned.

I will finish this book eventually as I do want to know what happened to Elliot's dad, I'm hoping for more description on these "color" attacks, I want to know if Madeline's old life as described to her friends is true or not, if her mother is okay, if she'll reunite with her dad.

I lost interest because...it was taking too long without enough background or descriptive information for me. It was a very slow start to begin with, but then we have a "Fifth Level Grey" attack and a description of the wounds, but not really what the Grey thing looks like. We're told about the different colors, but not in depth enough that I felt I knew what was going on. I know as the reader we're the outsider, especially in this alternate universe, but I need more information to go on. It's just so... random.

Then bouncing back to The World (our world), you have Madeline and her mother and the 2 homeschooling companions. Madeline's letters to Elliot made me smile as she has gumption and snark in her disbelief, which really doesn't match this flighty, fanciful girl of her past life.

You have social bullying on both sides (Bella towards Madeline and then Elliot's friends not being nice to the newcomers who just happened to rent his dead/missing father's shop) which, while it rang very true, didn't make me see them as loyal friends of Elliots. Rather, they're just jerks.

I don't know whether the book got tedious or if I just somehow lost the Reading Zone. For me, my Reading Zone is pretty strong, so to get knocked out of it or lose interest is usually a tad difficult. There's a lot of...charm and funny light banter in the writing, but gosh I just don't know. It just didn't work for me.

I think this book would be enjoyed by a different reader other than me. The storyline, the parallel universe, magic, mystery...wonderful ideas. For some reason, I just could not connect with it.

View all my reviews